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New Feature: Media and Project Temporary Access Links

You can now anonymously share access to private media and private projects by generating temporary links if you have edit access to a media record or are a project manager. By sending the link URL to someone else, they can view the private media or project without logging into MorphoSource or while logged into a MorphoSource account that would otherwise not have access to those records. This is our new recommended solution for granting journal reviewers anonymous access to private media.

For private media, a temporary link will grant access to view the media record and to see and interact with the 3D/2D web preview (if available), but not to download any media files associated with the record. Temporary link users will also not be able to see other private media associated with that specific media, such as private parents or children. For private projects, this link will grant access to view both the project and all media in the project. This is a great way to grant someone temporary access to parent-child derivative groups of multiple private media. Even when accessing private media through a project temporary access link, though, the same restrictions described above apply. Temporary link users are not able to download media files, and will not see any private media not included in the project for which the temporary link has been generated. All temporary links are only valid for a limited period of time, with a default period of 90 days, but you can customize this value when generating a link. If you generated a temporary link, are the data manager for media, or are the manager for a project, you can revoke existing temporary access links, which will immediately stop anyone using the link from being able to access the project or media.

If you are preparing an article or other scholarly manuscript to submit to a peer-reviewed journal or other publication, journal editors may request that you grant reviewers access private media or projects as part of the manuscript submission and review process. Media and project temporary access links allow you to grant anonymous reviewers access to your media and projects as you deem appropriate. Simply generate the appropriate temporary access links, ensure they are valid for long enough for review to be completed, and then send the temporary access links to the journal editor so they can forward them on to appropriate reviewers. Do note that these temporary links will grant reviewers the ability to anonymously access your media or projects, but they will not hide your identity from those reviewers. Anyone using a temporary access link will still be able to see the names and identities of data depositors, managers, and other MorphoSource users associated with media and projects.

For more information, please see our detailed documentation on these features, including our recommendations on providing journal reviewers access to private media:

As always, if you have further questions or need assistance with using MorphoSource, feel free to contact us. Thank you for using the MorphoSource 3D Data Repository.